New Girl
by tincannon
Summary: Annabeth is moving to a new town. Again. But what happens when she meets a certain green eyed boy? Percabeth! High school, no demigods.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi everyone! This is my first story so tell me how you like it.**

**Disclamer: I do not own PJO**

**ANNABETH POV**

I sighed and set down my sketchbook. As hard as I tried, I knew that I couldn't stop thinking about being the "New Girl". Again. I had just been at my old school long enough to make friends. Well, really, a friend. For me, that's a big deal, being the shy girl that I am.

Maybe some music would help. I put my headphones in my ears and let the music soothe me. After a while, I found myself humming along.

I heard a splashing sound coming through my open window. I got up and looked out. Sure enough, someone was swimming in their pool. Who could blame them, really. It was so hot here. Definitely something to get used to after living in Maine for so long.

I put my headphones back in and started humming again, but that annoying splashing noise wouldn't stop. Oh well, I thought. Better to brace the heat and get some peace than listen to that annoying splashing sound all day. I got up and shut my window. I picked up my sketchbook and started to draw.

After a while I started to zone out, not letting anything in my head when I heard:

"Annabeth, honey, can you pick up your skateboard? It fell over into the street!" I looked down at my now ruined picture. When my mom called, my arm jerked and now there was a line all through the entire page. I gripped the pencil so hard my knuckles turned white. "Annabeth!"

"COMING!" I say through gritted teeth. I got up and looked in the mirror. I guess I could go outside like this. I'm wearing pajama shorts and a t-shirt. I took my nest of wavy blond hair and worked it into a messy side braid. I rubbed the crust out of my gray eyes and decided that was good enough. I mean, I was only going outside.

I raced down the stairs and opened the front door. A wave of heat hit me. Even though we didn't have air conditioning, it was still way cooler inside than it was outside. I walked outside, rushing to the grass because the walkway burned my feet.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see the boy who was swimming before. I looked over at him and he waved. I waved back. I was closer to him than before, so I could see that he had black hair and stunning green eyes.

I ran out into the street and picked up my skateboard. I went around to the garage and put it next to my roller blades. It didn't look like I would be using those much here, with the cracked and bumpy sidewalks. I guess I would have to settle with walking to school. Not like it would be much of a problem. This was a pretty small town. My mom already showed me the way to school, and it wasn't too far away. I was just glad that we came here in time for me to be here for the first day of school, instead of starting in the middle of the school year.

I walked back up to my room after talking to my mom for a little bit and decided to try the peaceful drawing again, and hopefully this time it will actually be peaceful.

* * *

**PERCY POV**

I slowly walked down the stairs. I was trying to go as slowly as possible, because this was a Saturday. Saturdays meant I had to go and mow cranky old Mr. Dinsmore's lawn. I walked into the kitchen, hugged my mom, and poured myself some cereal. I slowly, slowly, ate my cereal while I watched my mom wash the dishes. She peered out the window, the one that faces Mr. Dinsmore's lawn.

"I wonder when we'll meet the new neighbors. They've been moved in for about a week!" That's right, I had totally forgotten! We had new neighbors! No more grumpy Mr. Dinsmore! I jumped up and did a happy dance around the kitchen. My mom laughed.

"What made you so happy?" I just grinned at her and sat back down at the table. I inhaled the rest of my soggy cereal, which for some reason seemed much more appealing than before. I was in such a good mood, I decided to go swimming.

I went upstairs and changed into my swimsuit. I raced outside and practically dove into my pool, which was probably not a very good idea because it is only four feet deep. The pool wasn't exactly big, but it was enough to swim small laps in. I needed to get at much practice as I could if I wanted to make the swim team when school started.

I had been swimming for about a half an hour when I heard a humming sound coming from the new neighbor's house. It was peaceful. For a while I stopped doing laps and just floated, listening to the sound. Once, the girl who was humming stopped and looked out the window. I tried to see what she looked like, but all I could see was a big tangle of blond hair. I smiled. She had probably woken up just a little while ago. Eventually, she came over and slammed the window shut.

A couple minutes later, I saw her rush out the door. This time, she had her hair in a hastily done braid, so some strands of hair hung around her face. She turned over to me so I could see her gray eyes. I waved at her. She waved back. I watched her pick up a skateboard from the street and go back inside.

* * *

**OLIVIA POV**

I was sitting in my bed writing in my journal, when I got a text from Sam.

_**School day after tomorrow, can you believe it?**_

_**Yeah, it's too bad. I've been enjoying these three months without seeing your ugly face!**_

_**Hey! :)**_

My best friend Sam always goes away on summer vacation to some island somewhere. Actually, these three months have been horrible, just like they are every summer, but I would never tell him that!

_**Well, it's true!**_

_**Hey, wanna go to the park later?**_

_**Sure!**_

_**Pick you up in 10?**_

_**OK see you then. :)**_

I felt like I was going to burst with happiness. I was going to see Sam for the first time in three months! I put my phone down, and seconds later my little sister Emily came into the room.

"Who were you texting?"

"Sam."

"Is Sam your boyfriend?"

"No! Why would you think that?" I wish he was. I could feel my cheeks burning.

"Cause whenever you talk to him you start smiling!" She may only be six, but she sure does observe a lot.

"Do not, Em!"

"Do too!"

"Do not, now get out!" I somehow wrestled her out of my room and locked the door. I changed into some jeans and a t-shirt, and put my favorite boots on. I rushed to the kitchen, heard a car honk, and opened the door.

"Mom! Dad! I'm going to the park!"

"Okay, sweetie, have fun!"

* * *

**SAM POV**

I saw Olivia rushing out the door, her long red hair flying behind her. She ran into me with a hug, almost knocking me over. I put her in a headlock and rubbed my fist on her head.

"Hey!" She protested, laughing. I let go of her and held her at arms length.

"Olivia! Come on, we have a lot to catch up on!" She smiled and jumped in my truck. I got in after her, and we drove away.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey, guys, thanks for the reviews! Sorry for this short chapter I had a lot of work to do. I will probably be updating this every Thursday.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO**

**ANNABETH POV**

Ugh. Today is the first day of school. I'm going to have to start all over again. It's not like that's anything new. I always move, every year or so, because of my mom's job. Last year, we stayed two years, enough time for me to make a friend. I know it makes a decent amount of money but sometimes I wish she would just quit.

I got out of bed, put on some skinny jeans, a t-shirt, snow boots (I know it's weird, but they're comfortable!), and my sweatshirt. I brushed my hair and worked it into a messy side braid, just like I do every day. I went downstairs and out the door and started on the short walk to Goode High School.

When I got to school, I found my locker (271). I looked down at my schedule.

**1st Block: Math**

**2nd Block: Science**

**3rd Block: Art**

**RTI / Lunch**

**4th Block: Social Studies**

**5th Block: Gym**

**6th Block: Language Arts**

I chose art as my elective, obviously. I never let my sketchbook leave my side, anyways. I tried to look like I knew where I was going, but after going up and down the hallway three times, I decided that I should probably ask somebody. Luckily, I didn't have to because I almost ran into the person that was swimming in the pool yesterday.

"Oh, sorry I- Hey! You're my new neighbor!"

"Um, yeah..." I say quietly. Usually I don't talk to anyone but teachers in school.

"You're new, so you probably don't know your way around. Want me to show you?" I nodded and tentatively handed him my schedule. "Oh, you have math first. Come on." He grabbed my hand and pulled me to the math room.

"Okay, I have to go now. By the way, what's your name? Mine's Percy. Percy Jackson." He grinned at me, and I smiled back. I decided to break my rules and talk.

"My name is Annabeth." The green eyed boy smiled and walked away. I was the last person to get to math, apparently, because there was only one seat left, and it was next to a girl with red hair and brown eyes that was ferociously writing in a journal. I quietly sat down, not wanting to disturb her.

I pulled out my sketchbook and pencils and started to draw. I was currently working on a picture of my mother. I was trying to remember every tiniest little detail, from the wrinkles around her eyes, to the way she smiles with one corner of her mouth.

"Olivia! Will you please pay attention in class!" The teacher said. The girl next to me hastily put away her journal. The teacher turned to me.

"And that goes for you, too young lady. I know you are new..." He looked at me.

"Annabeth. Annabeth Chase." I said quietly. I could feel my face turning beet red.

"Annabeth. In this school, we pay attention in class, alright?"

"Yes, sir." The teacher turned back to the board and started babbling on about stuff I already knew. In my last school, I took college math, but there hadn't been enough time to apply and take all the tests in the week before school started.

"Mr. Brown is such a grump!" The girl beside me whispered. The teacher came around to pass out a worksheet. The girl looked at me like she wanted me to answer her, but of course, I didn't. By this time I was already a quarter of the way finished with the worksheet.

"So your name's Annabeth, huh? I'm Olivia. You seem pretty shy. What were you drawing? I-"

"Olivia!" The teacher said loudly. She stopped talking. But sure enough, after I finished my worksheet (one minute later):

"You finished that pretty fast!" Would this girl ever shut up? "Will you sit with me at lunch?" The girl said. By now I was willing to do anything to get some peace and quiet.

"Okay, fine." She looked at me and smiled.

"Finally. I was beginning to think you'd never talk."

"Well, I think I'll go back to drawing..."

"Oh, no you don't, missy! I got you to talk, which is not an easy feat, belive me." I took out my sketchbook. "Come on! I promise I'm not like this normally, I just really wanted to talk to you. I think we could be good friends." I sighed and put down my sketchbook.

"Okay, I'll talk to you for the rest of this block, which is..." I looked at my watch. "Ten minutes." Her eyes brightened. I talked to Olivia for the last ten minutes of class, and she actually wasn't as bad as I thought.

* * *

**PERCY POV**

I have to go to art now. I thought I chose swimming for my elective, but I guess I didn't notice that you were supposed to check the box above the class you wanted, instead of below. *mental facepalm* Stupid. I know.

I walked into the classroom and saw Annabeth sitting there, drawing. I sat down next to her. She sort of scooted her chair away from me a little bit and tilted her sketchbook so I couldn't see what she was drawing.

"Hey." She nodded. I decided not to pester her. After a while the class filled up. A thin lady with her raven black hair in a wild bun, with a paintbrush and a pencil sticking out of the back of it walked over.

"Hello, everyone! My name is Ms. Fitzjurls, and I am your art teacher! Today will just be a free draw, since you are still getting to know me. When you're done, it's free time." When no one stood up, she made wild gestures with her hands. "Come get a piece of paper!" We all got up and got paper.

I sat down and started to draw the first thing that popped into my head. A boat. Long story short, it ended up looking like a half circle with a stick coming out of it. I tried to look over to see what Annabeth was drawing, but she was leaning over it. I took out my book and pretended to read for a while. After a while I couldn't concentrate on my fake reading because the teacher and Annabeth were talking. Well, mostly the teacher.

"This is beautiful! Do you realize how talented you are?" Annabeth nodded. Ms. Fitzjurls picked up the paper.

"Everyone!" She stopped when she saw Annabeth frantically shaking her head. She put the paper down.

"A shy one? Don't worry, I can fix that!" She smiled and patted Annabeth's shoulder.

"And for goodness sakes, boy, do something else! You haven't turned the page in twenty minutes!" She snapped. Ten minutes later the bell rang for lunch. Annabeth arranged her things and hurried out the door. I caught up to her.

"Want me to show you to lunch?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi guys. Thanks for all of the awesome reviews. I am _so so so so so_ sorry for the long wait, but I have been in Boston for the past two weeks and I just came back. I thought that we were going during April vacation, but it turns out we weren't. Sorry! I whipped up this short chapter as soon as I got home, and I promise I will update tomorrow with a longer chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO. (obviously)**

**OLIVIA POV**

I was sitting at the lunch table waiting for the Annabeth girl. What? She said she would come. I'm ninety percent sure that she meant it and she wasn't just getting me to shut up. I saw Sam get out of the lunch line and waved him over. He came and sat down next to me.

"None of your other friends can sit here today, okay?" He frowned.

"Why not?"

"Well." I munched on my sandwich. "I met this girl who said that she would sit with me at lunch," I swallowed. "And she's shy. So I don't want to scare her off."

"Okay..." I saw the blond girl walking in with Percy. He was a little weird; he didn't have any friends, as far as I knew. I could see her craning her neck, eyes scanning the cafeteria. I waved. She saw me and grabbed Percy's hand, yanking him over to our table.

"See, Sam? Here she comes." Annabeth pulled out a chair and sat down on the other side of me.

"Is it okay if Percy sits here?" She whispered to me. I could barely hear her. We were going to have to work on her talking skills if she was going to be friends with me. I nodded.

"Sure!" Percy sat down next to her, who sort of scooted away from him a little bit. I shook my head. This girl had a lot to learn. Annabeth quickly finished her lunch and stood up.

"Well, I'll be going..." She rushed out of the cafeteria.

* * *

**ANNABETH POV**

(Language Arts)

I was pretty early getting to language arts and sat down at the only table that didn't have anyone there. I was soon joined by Olivia, Percy, and Olivia's friend that was at lunch. I considered moving to another table, but when I looked around, there were no more seats left. I guess I was stuck with them. The teacher started to do attendance. Olivia's friend was the last person to be called.

"And... Sam Walsh?" He raised his hand.

"Here." He said, then went back to ripping a scrap of paper into pieces.

"Alright, class, for those of you who don't know me, I am Mrs. Crane. You can take out your books and read silently for the first twenty minutes of class. I expect you to do this every day when you come in my classroom." She said with a smile. She looked like a nice lady, with gray hair and sparkling blue eyes. I took out my book. It was a good thing I loved reading. It was actually one of my favorite things to do.

After twenty minutes of reading, (well, at least I was reading. I don't know about the other people at my table.) Mrs. Crane stood up.

"Okay, class. You can put your books away. After that, take out a piece of paper and write about anything you would like. I'm not one of those teachers that expects you to remember everything you did over the summer. The minimum is one page, and you can turn it in to me tomorrow. After that, it's free time."

I quickly finished my paper and took out my sketchbook. I decided to finish up the picture of my mom at home and turned to another page. I sketched the outline of an eye, making it as realistic as I could. Olivia leaned over.

"What are you drawing?" I turned it away from her and gave her my evil eye. She put her hands up in defense.

"Okay, okay, I was just wondering." The bell rang for class. I gathered my things and rushed out the door, ignoring a "Wait! Annabeth!" from Percy. I walked to my locker and took out my bag. I shut my locker only to see Percy.

"Hey, your locker is next to mine! I was wondering... do you need a ride home?"

"No thank you, not today." I replied, pushing past him out the door, starting the short walk home.


	4. Chapter 4

**I am so so so so so sorry. I totally forgot that I had this story, as well as the password for this account. Sorry. Again. I know. I'm horrible. Please review, and thank you to everyone who has reviewed. ****But anyways...**

**Disclaimer- I do not own PJO. If you can't figure that out... well.**

**OLIVIA POV**

I can't believe what Annabeth did. If someone is trying to be nice to you, you don't reject them! That girl is just too shy. Now Percy's probably driving home wondering what he did wrong. I sighed. Sam looked over at me.

"What's wrong?" He asked me.

"Annabeth!" I replied. He scrunched his eyebrows, looking confused.

"Why, what'd she do?" I rolled my eyes.

"Ugh. Boys." I muttered. We pulled up in front of my house.

"What?"

"Nothing," I said, opening the door. "Thanks for the ride!" I ran inside and shut the door. Immediately I took my shoes off, letting go a sigh of relief. Why do we have to wear shoes in school? I mean, I understand outside, but why school?

I go to my room, careful to lock the door behind me. Little sisters can be sneaky. One time, when I was sleeping, she came in and drew a mustache on me with marker. (thankfully it was washable) I didn't know until Sam picked me up in the morning and started cracking up. So yeah, keep the door locked.

I flopped on my bed and took out my journal. Let me get one thing straight. I love writing. I have a bookshelf in my room with row after row of filled composition books. I use up about one a week. I don't write about my day or anything like that; just stories. I think my mom has just permanently put them on her grocery list.

I write until my mom calls me for dinner.

* * *

**ANNABETH POV**

I walked into my house, shutting the door behind me.

"Mom! I'm home!" I call, setting my backpack down. After a few seconds my mom comes rushing out of her office, grinning. She hugs me.

"How was your first day of school?"

"It was fine, Mom. The same as always." I said. She let me go.

"Did you make any friends?" This was a routine. She asked me the same questions, and I gave her the same answers. I was about to say _no_ but then I thought about Olivia and Percy. Oh man, I was going to regret this.

"Um...sort of?" I said. She squealed, a kind of squeal that I do _not _want coming out of my mother.

"Really?" I rolled my eyes, walking over to the counter to help her with dinner.

"Yes, gosh, Mom, calm down!" She took a deep breath and picked up a dish towel, walking over to the sink.

"Alright, I want to know all the details!" She said, picking up a plate.

"Mom! Just… drop it, okay?" She sighed.

"Okay," She said, sounding like a defeated little kid. I picked up a knife and started chopping the cucumbers. After a few minutes,

"So, what are these… friends like? Gender, personality?" My mom asked, not turning to face me. I sighed and gave up, deciding to talk, but only about Olivia. Otherwise I would never hear the end of it. _Do you like him? Is he cute?_ Sometimes my mom was like a best friend rather than a mom.

"Well, she's a girl, and her name is Olivia." She nodded, and could tell by my tone that I would not be accepting any more questions. I heard the sound of a lawn mower starting, which my mom didn't seem to notice until after like a half an hour. She peered out the window above the sink.

"Looks like the neighbors are mowing their lawn. Oh! That reminds me," She exclaimed, turning to me.

"I need to pick up the new lawn mower at the hardware store. Do you mind washing the rest of these dishes?" I shook my head. I tried to help out as much as I could at home, with my mom's job and all.

"Great. I'll be back in about thirty minutes," She said, kissing my cheek.

"Alright, bye mom." I turned to the sink and started washing, hearing the click of the door closing. As I picked up a pan, I glanced out the window. I saw Percy take one hand off the mower to wipe a bead of sweat off his forehead. After a second, he noticed me, giving me a one handed wave. I waved back, but by that time he had turned around.

* * *

**PERCY POV**

I waved to Annabeth and didn't wait for her to wave back before I turned around. It's not like she would actually want to talk to me anyways. I guess she was just really, really, _really _shy, and I rushed her by asking if she needed a ride home. It wasn't like she hated me, right? She just needed some time. I gave up trying to convince myself. What was I thinking? You can't just do that to someone you've only known for a day!

"Percy! PERCY!" My mom was shouting to me. I looked up to realize I was almost halfway through mowing the already cut lawn. I quickly shut off the mower, not wanting to waste more gas.

"Sorry, Mom!" I yelled to her through the window. I pushed the mower into the shed and walked back inside.

Dinner

I was pushing around the food on my plate with my fork when I was jolted back to reality by my mother touching my arm.

"Percy, honey? Are you feeling okay?" She asked, concerned. I realized I was thinking about Annabeth again. I cleared my throat.

"Yeah, Mom, I'm fine." I said, smiling up at her. She frowned, placing her hand on my forehead.

"Are you sure? Do you need to stay home or-"

"Fine, Mom. I'm fine." If by fine you mean you can't stop thinking about a random girl you just met, then yeah, I'm totally fine. What is wrong with me?

"Alright… well, why don't you go up to bed, and get some early rest," She suggested. I was about to protest, but then I realized how good that sounded. I nodded. She patted my cheek and smiled.

"Well, goodnight, Percy."

* * *

**ANNABETH POV**

I yawned and closed my sketchbook. I turned off my light and climbed into my bed. I saw Percy close his curtains and turn off his light, and it made me smile.

**By the way, guys, sorry for all of the out of character… ness in this story. Yeah. And I promise to update more often after this. (I just got my own computer, so no more daily twenty minute periods of "computer time.") Again, sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry for not updating. Thankyou thankyou thankyou for reading!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Okay, hi, guys. I never thought this story would have more than like five favorites. Wow. Thankyou thankyou to everyone who has reviewed, or anything else. So, my new goal is to have way longer chapters. Because the ones that I have posted are really short. Sorry for that. Enough of me babbling. Go ahead and read.**

**Disclaimer- I don't own PJO.**

**ANNABETH POV**

I walked into math and sat down next to Olivia.

"Hey," I said. She gave an indignant little 'hmph' sound and turned around in her chair, crossing her arms. Wow.

"Hello?" I waved my hand on front of her face. "I am voluntarily talking to you right now, I guess that's not what you want, so I'll stop now…" She turned around.

"Sorry."

"What was that for?"

"I am presently irritated at you." She said.

"Yeah, I got that. Why?" She turned her head. I thought for a second. "Look, If you tell me what I did wrong, I promise to… be your friend and not be uncomfortable talking around you." That was the best I had. She had better not expect anything more. She looked at me, eyes shining.

"Really?" I nodded. "I'll tell you on the way to your third class." It was reasonable,

Mr. Howe, according to Olivia, always let us out almost twenty minutes early.

"Okay."

On the way to Art

"What's your next class?" Olivia asked me.

"Art."

"Okay." She walked ahead of me.

"Sooo… are you gonna tell me what's wrong?" I asked, speeding up to her pace.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Just wait." I waited a few seconds, walking down the empty hallway.

"Now?"

"No."

"Now?"

"_No._ Wait until we get to art."

"Why?"

"I never thought you talking would be so annoying!"

"Sorry." It was the longest two-hundred feet I had ever walked. When we reached art, I did a little hop in front of the closed door.

"_Now_ will you tell me?"

* * *

**OLIVIA POV**

I _would _have told her earlier, but it was so funny watching her squirm like that.

* * *

**ANNABETH POV**

"How could you, Annabeth?"

"How could I what?" I asked, confused.

"Percy asked you if you needed a ride home, and you said no!" Oh, so _that's _what this was about.

"I just met him, Olivia."

"So?"

"So I barely know him."

"I don't care. You probably hurt his feelings."

"Why do you care?" Her eyes shifted, like this was the first time she had thought of this question.

"Just... because." The door opened, and people streamed out. The same thing happened all around us. People from my art class started walking in, including Percy. Well, only Percy. He nodded to me as he walked by.

"Hey." He said. I blushed.

"Hi." I said, looking at my feet. I waited until he had walked in, and I touched my cheek. I never blushed. What was happening to the old stubborn Annabeth? Olivia's eyes widened. She grabbed my shoulders and turned me towards her.

"Percy's in your art class?" Thankfully my face had turned back to normal by then.

"Um… yeah, why?" A grin spread across her face. I didn't like where this was going.

"You," She said, pushing me in the door, "are going to apologize." Uh oh. She pushed me over to Percy, who was sitting down in his seat. I tried to stop her, but the there was no traction on my stupid old snow boots. We came to a stop in front of him.

"Olivia," I hissed under my breath, "What are you doing?" It was a good thing nobody else was here, this was humiliating.

"It's not a question of what I'm doing, what you need to know is what _you're _doing." She said clearly. Percy raised his eyebrows.

"What?" He asked, clearly confused.

"Annabeth," Olivia started, giving me a little shove, "has something to say to you." He shifted his eyes to me.

"Okay…"

"Um… sorry?"

"Sorry for what?" Olivia asked.

"Sorry for, uh…" His eyes seemed like I could swim in them forever-

"For rejecting your offer to drive her home!" Olivia exclaimed. He blinked.

"Oh. It's fine. It didn't really matter anyways." He said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"See? I told you it didn't matter." I muttered under my breath.

"What was that, Annabeth?"

"Nothing," Olivia rolled her eyes and practically skipped out the door. I slid into my seat beside Percy.

"Sorry about that," I said quietly. He turned to me.

"For what? The ride or Olivia?" I winced.

"Um, both… I guess."

"I told you, it's fine. I guess you're just shy. And Olivia, I have a feeling she was born that way." I snorted.

"You've got that right." People started filtering into the room. Twenty minutes into the class, Mrs. Fitzjurls rushed in, pile of papers in hand.

"Class! Sorry I'm late. I had to find your rubrics." The class groaned. I could see the sparkle in her eyes. I had a feeling she absolutely loved her job.

"Ah, but you all must be wondering, rubrics, but for _what_, exactly?" She said, passing out the rubrics. When she had passed out all the papers, she pranced to the front of the class.

"A project! An art project! As you can see from your rubrics, it can be anything. Yes, _anything!_ A sculpture!" She did an exaggerated form of the Thinker. "A drawing!" She motioned to a picture on the board. "A painting!" She picked up a paintbrush and swirled it around her. "Art can be anything! I can see by your faces that you are very excited. But," She said, going still. "There is a catch. You will be working with a partner." I watched as people had weird eye conversations with their friends.

"Ah, but you will not be picking your partners." She said firmly. More people groaned.

"And your partner will be the other person sitting at your table. And before you ask," She held up a hand, "No exceptions. If you don't like your partner, tough. So. You will not get class time for this project, mostly since It's due in two months. I am sick and tired of people turning things in late. If this is late, you fail my class. Now," She said, changing the subject, "Today, we are doing still life drawing, of, the object that is sitting on your table. Go!"

I took out my sketchpad and started to draw the shell that was sitting on my table. I hate group projects. And, even better, for this one Percy was my partner. I wasn't sure if that was good or bad. We were neighbors, so it would be easy to work together, but then again, he was a person. That I would have to talk to. I hated talking. And plus, what about at the beginning of class, when I blushed? I _never_ blushed. What if it happened again? No, I thought firmly, it would _not_. That was because Olivia was talking about him, nothing more. I finished the shell and went over to hand it to Mrs. Fitzjurls.

"Ah," She said when I walked up to her, "My star student." I handed her the paper. Star student? I had only known her for a day. Relationships here were developing way too fast for my taste. She took out her gradebook and I saw the corner of her mouth climb up as she marked a four under my name.

"This is beautiful, you know." She told me softly, still looking at her gradebook.

"Mm." I said, but it sounded more like a squeak. She looked up at me.

"You are going to be a totally different person when I'm done with you." She said, smiling.

"Um, yeah…" I said, then walked back to my seat. Percy turned towards me. He cleared his throat.

"So, do you, uh, want to work on the project tonight, or…" He said, chewing on his lip.

"Uh, no, sorry, I can't this week, maybe Wednesday next week?" I asked tentatively. He nodded.

"Sure." He turned back to his drawing. Okay… I didn't _really_ have anything to do this week, but I wanted to get to know him first.

Lunch

I sat down next to Olivia, dragging Percy behind me.

"Was that _really_ necessary, Olivia?" I asked her, exasperated. She grinned.

"Sorry." She said sheepishly. "Oh!" Her face lit up again. "If you _are_ going to be my friend, I need your phone number." I nodded.

"Hold on." I rummaged around in my bag for a pen. When I got one, I grabbed Olivia's hand, scribbling it on her wrist. When I was done, she grabbed the pen out of my hand and did the same to me. I was about to put the pen away when I heard Olivia's voice.

"Forgetting someone? Gimme that." She reached over and grabbed Percy's hand, writing in her odd ferocious manner. She handed the pen to me.

"Now you." She said crisply. I looked over at Percy.

"Can I?..." He nodded and held out his hand. I gingerly took it and wrote my number carefully on his wrist.

"For goodness sakes, you're not gonna _break _him!" She snatched the pen out of my hand and handed it to Percy. She held out her wrist and he wrote his number. Olivia grabbed my wrist and basically slammed it down on the table in front of Percy.

"I might not break him, but you might break _me_." I said to her, which earned me an eye roll. Percy wrote his number on my wrist and handed my pen back to me. I put it back in my bag and scanned our table.

"Where's Sam?" I asked Olivia. She motioned to a different table.

"Over with his _popular_ friends." She scoffed. So Sam was one of the populars. Great. I was definitely not becoming friends with him. We finished lunch and went to our fourth class. By the end of the day, I was ready to go to bed.

**So, I know that the pacing is really weird in this story. I mean **_**really**_ **weird. But oh, well. Now everything will happen fast. I don't know why that would be a good thing… So thanks for reading, I will try to update as soon as I can.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey, guys. Thanks for all of the favorites, follows, reviews, etc. Please review, I value your opinions! If you do, I will probably reply. Please. Okay. I am giving you guys a choice. Would you rather have short chapters every day, or longer ones every other day? I can do either. Please answer. Thanks.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot and the other characters. (you've probably figured that out by now; I've told you five times)**

**ANNABETH POV**

I woke up on Monday to my phone vibrating. Olivia. I opened the text.

_**It's Monday, get up.**_ I rolled my eyes and texted back.

_**Is this my punishment for letting you have my phone number?**_ I could just imagine Olivia, grinning.

_**Yes, and I need you to get to school early enough so you can help me with a math question.**_ I sighed.

_**Ok fine. I need to go then.**_ I and set down my phone. I changed into skinny jeans, my favorite gray owl shirt, a light blue cardigan, and put my hair into the usual do. I ran downstairs, grabbed my bag, and slipped on my boots.

"Bye Mom!" I yelled, then rushed out the door. I was about to run all the way to school, but then I thought of my skateboard. Maybe the sidewalks wouldn't be too bad. I went to the shed and rummaged around until I found it. I jumped on, and it wasn't as bumpy as I thought. I could do this every day.

* * *

**PERCY POV**

I was driving to school when I saw Annabeth skateboarding. I wasn't surprised, I mean, I had seen her pick one up from the street one time. But still. I pulled into the school parking lot. When I walked up to the doors, I saw Olivia just standing there. I stopped in front of her.

"What are you doing?" I asked her.

"Waiting for Annabeth. Have you seen her?" She inquired.

"Um, yeah, she should be here in a minute or so."

"Okay, thanks." I walked into the building, and was immediately blasted with warm air. I think it's the leftover air from the air conditioning or something. I walked to my locker and was soon joined by Olivia and Annabeth.

"Hey." Annabeth said, opening her locker. Behind her, Olivia wiggled her eyebrows. I have to confess, sometimes, with Olivia, I just don't know.

"Hi." I replied. I was ready to go to homeroom, but for some reason, I didn't close my locker, I just stood there.

"Cool skateboard," I said as she put her skateboard in her locker.

"Thanks. Do you ride?" She asked me.

"Um, yeah, that's how I got to school before I got a car."

"Cool. I can't get a car because I'm always moving every year or so." This comment made my heart lurch, but I didn't dare voice my distress. Too embarrassing. Thankfully, Olivia, who has no filter, did it for me.

"WHAT?!" She shrieked, alerting the attention of a teacher.

"Olivia, quiet down. This is a hallway." Mr. Brown's voice drifted out from his doorway.

"SORRY!" She yelled. "Excuse me, _what?_" Annabeth looked like she'd let something slip that she wasn't supposed to.

"Don't worry, I'm staying here for a year. Thats a long time… right?" Olivia's expression was a mixture of surprise, anger, and dismay.

"We," Oliva began, pulling Annabeth towards Mr. Howe's (their homeroom) room, "Will talk about this later."

"Bye, Percy." Said a dismayed Annabeth.

"Bye…" I replied weakly.

* * *

**ANNABETH POV**

(end of art)

I stood up from my seat and started walking towards the door when I felt Percy touch my arm.

"We're still on for Wednesday, right?" He asked. I didn't turn because my face was bright red.

"Um… yeah. Bye!" I rushed out the door and went to Olivia's locker, because if I went to my locker, Percy would be there. I came up to here as she shut her locker.

"Hi, Annabeth- _whoa_, what happened?" She said staring at my face.

"Um, nothing. I was wondering-"

"Does this have anything to do with Percy?" My face, if possible, turned an even brighter red.

"_What?_ No! Why would you think that?!" I shrieked. Olivia put her hands up in defense.

"Okay, okay! You were saying?" She asked, changing the subject. I exhaled.

"Anyways… I was wondering if you could come over to my house today?" I asked her, calming down.

"Yeah, sure. Do you want to go to lunch now?" I touched my face. Nope, still warm.

"Uh, can we wait a few minutes?" Olivia smirked.

"Why, do you not want a certain person to see your face?" She teased. I shot her one of my special death glares.

"Jeez, you're scary. Yes, we can wait." We talked for a few minutes, until Olivia alerted me that my face was back to normal. We sat down at our regular table. Thankfully, Percy wasn't there yet. Unfortunately, he came seconds later.

"Hey, guys." He said as he was sitting down. As hard as I tried to prevent it, I blushed. Dang it! I stood up.

"I'm gonna go… get a drink of w-water." I stuttered, pointing towards the door. Smooth, Annabeth, smooth. I rushed out the door.

* * *

**OLIVIA POV**

Yeah, that fiasco totally had to do with Percy. See, I have a secret super power. I can predict what will happen in other people's love lives. I think it developed while I was trying to ignore my crush on Sam. I payed attention to other people instead of myself. I know Annabeth doesn't like him yet, but she will. I promise you.

I think this was a problem that normal people would have ignored, but, you know, Annabeth's not normal. He probably talked to her or something.

"What's up with her?" Percy asked. I decided to play matchmaker and give him a little nudge in the right direction.

"I don't know, but… she came out of art blushing like crazy." I said, not looking at him. He groaned and leaned back in his chair.

"I know what I did. Hold on, I'll be right back." He walked away muttering what sounded like _stupid, stupid, stupid._ I grinned. I told you I had a super power. I felt something bump my arm.

"What are you so happy about?" I heard from beside me. Sam.

"Nothing. Just doing my job." He turned towards me, so I could see his bright blue eyes.

"Olivia. Are you playing matchmaker again?" He playfully asked me.

"How dare you accuse me of such a thing!" I said, straightening my posture.

"_Olivia._" I grinned.

"You guessed right."

"So, who is it this time?" _You and me._

"Percy and Annabeth."

"Ah. I should have guessed."

"Yes, you should have."

* * *

**PERCY POV**

Stupid, stupid, stupid. I shouldn't have touched her arm. I could have just asked her. _Stupid._

* * *

**ANNABETH POV**

I splashed water on my face, hoping to cool down. Ugh. I was disgusting _myself_. How is that even possible? I dried my face off and walked out of the bathroom, only to see Percy. _Here I go again,_ I thought as my face started to heat up. I tried to slip into the lunchroom door, but he blocked me.

"Look, Annabeth, I'm sorry." He said. I could feel his breath ruffling the hair on the top of my head. I stepped back.

"Sorry for what? You didn't do anything."

"Obviously, I did. Otherwise, you wouldn't be turning red every time you see me." I assumed that my head resembled a tomato by now.

"See, there you go again." I then made a resolution to go around with a paper bag over my head.

"That's not because of you, it's just… hot in here." Wow, I can't believe I just said that.

"Okay, sure. Is it because I touched your arm?" I lowered my gaze to the floor.

"No."

"Come on, yes it is. And _I'm sorry._ Do you hear me?"

"Yes." I muttered.

"Now will you stop acting weird, please? I just want you to be a normal friend, not one that barely talks to me. I know you can. I've heard you talking to Olivia. Do you think you can do that?" Wow, I had never met someone that actually wanted to be my friend, other than Olivia. I nodded. He lowered his hands from the doorframe.

"Thank you." He walked back into the lunchroom. I decided that it would be nice to actually get my lunch from my locker. As I walked, I thought. Of how stupid I was. Olivia was right. I was too shy. So shy that a simple touch on the arm freaked me out.

And, a new development, my face was malfunctioning. Super annoying. And embarrassing. Ugh. I took my lunch out of my locker and shut it. _I'm going to go into that cafeteria, _I thought_, and not blush. _I came to the door and took a deep breath. Time to put my determination to the test. I walked in and slid into my seat in between Olivia and Percy. My face didn't heat up. _Victory!_

"Where've you been?" Olivia asked me.

"I had to get my lunch."

"And before that?" She said, smirking.

"I got a drink." She sighed and shook her head.

"I'm never getting anything out of you."

"Nope." I said proudly. I was happy that Olivia hadn't raised the subject of my mom's job. But of course, with my luck, when we're coming out of the lunchroom, I hear someone whisper in my ear.

"And, just so you know, I haven't forgotten about your little, ah, "moving" stunt." Great. I knew she wasn't going to raise the subject anytime soon, but with Olivia, you never know.

End of School

I dragged Olivia down the sidewalk, preparing her for what was about to come.

"My mom is going to freak out. Ignore it. Got that?" She nodded. After a few more warnings we came to my house. I tried to open the door, but it was locked. My mom must have forgotten to unlock it during her lunch break.

"Great," I muttered.

"What do we do now?" Olivia asked. I sat down on the porch.

"I guess just wait until my mom comes home, which should be," I looked at my watch. "About fifteen minutes." I sighed. Olivia sat down next to me.

"It's fine. I can wait." We talked until ten minutes later when Percy came out of the house next door to get the mail. He waved. I waved back, but all Olivia did was make her eyes look like they were popping out of her head. She waited until Percy walked back inside, then grabbed my arm and pulled me to the back of my house.

"I think I'm losing circulation in my hand." I said. She let go of my arm.

"Percy is your _neighbor_?!"

"Yeahhh…" I said rubbing my arm.

"And _why_ wasn't I supplied with this information?" I heard my mom's car pull into the driveway. I started walking back.

"It didn't seem that important."

"_Not important?_ What kind of-"

"Hi Mom." She hugged me.

"Hi, sweetie… Who's this?" She asked. Her voice sounded calm, but I could hear her words picking up at the end. On the inside, my mother was trying not to run around and scream with happiness.

"Mom," I said carefully, "This is Olivia. Olivia, Mom." They shook hands.

"You can call me Athena." Olivia smiled.

"Nice to meet you."

"It's been wonderful to meet you," My mom began, "I've never met one of Annabeth's friends before." She said, like she knew she was going to get in trouble. And she was right.

"Mom!" I said, making a 'stop' motion behind Olivia. "We're just going to go up to my room now. Okay? Bye!" I grabbed Olivia's arm and unlocked the door, closing it behind us. I dragged her up to my room, closing and locking the door. We sat down on my bed.

"Your mom is nice." Olivia spoke first.

"Yeah, she's a… nice… person." I said, the words tasting like metal in my mouth. Usually, she _was_ really nice, but I wasn't exactly feeling it at this moment.

"Soooo… what do you want to do?" I asked her. From my spot beside her, I could see the corners of her mouth twitch up. Uh oh.

"How do you feel about… the pool?" My blood turned cold. We were facing the window that looked down on the neighbor's yard, where the very person I was trying to avoid was swimming. It's not like I didn't want to see him. I did. Just not so soon after the little… hallway incident. Too awkward.

"Olivia,-" I started to protest, but she cut me off.

"Come on, let's go!" She grabbed my arm and dragged me out of my house into the neighbor's yard.

"Olivia, what are you doing?"

"What does it look like? I'm pulling you over there even though you don't want to go!" She said, the glee leaking out of her words. I just don't know _why._ We came up to the pool and Olivia let go of me and leaned on the side of it.

"Hi Percy!" She called out. He stopped swimming and waded over to us.

"Hey Olivia. Annabeth." Was it my imagination or did his voice soften when he said my name? _Snap out of it Annabeth, you've only known him for a little over a week! _I thought.

"Hi." I said, trying not to be embarrassed. Percy said he wanted me to a regular friend, that meant no embarrassment.

"Not to be rude, but why are you here?" He asked.

"Don't ask me, Olivia was the one who dragged me over here." I said.

"Oh…" He said. I thought I heard a little disappointment creep into his voice, but my imagination was acting up today.

"Just wanted to say hi!- Oh, did you know that Annabeth didn't tell me that you two were neighbors?" Percy looked unaffected by this news.

"So?" Olivia's friendly expression turned into one of extreme frustration.

"Don't you people get it? This kinda stuff is important!" Percy held up his hands in defence.

"Okay, okay, sheesh!" Olivia turned to me.

"You know, Annabeth," She started talking, but I didn't end up listening to the rest of it, because behind Olivia, Percy pointed to her and made the 'crazy' sign. He crossed his eyes and stuck his tongue out. I fought the urge to laugh.

"And you really need to- Annabeth, are you even listening to me?" I immediately erased the expression on my face and replaced it with an overly serious one.

"Yes, ma'am." She whipped around, but Percy had already stopped what he was doing and begun to swim again. She rolled her eyes. "Come on, Annabeth, we're leaving now." She said, grabbing my arm again. Percy turned around and waved.

"Bye."

"Bye," I managed to giggle out. _Giggling, Annabeth, seriously? What is happening to you? _We avoided my mother until it was time for Olivia to leave.

* * *

**PERCY POV**

I toweled off and walked inside. My mom looked up from her writing.

"Who were they?" She asked.

"My friends." I smiled.

**I hoped you liked this long chapter, guys. Remember to review, and please answer my question! Short and often, or long and not. Thanks for reading, bye!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey, guys. As always, thanks for all of the awesome reviews, and I am really glad that you like this story. Also thanks to all of the people that answered the timing question. That said, I'm going to go with the long chapter every other day. I'll update next Thursday, but maybe Wednesday also because I'm staying home all day. I'm sorry for the late (and short) chapter. I mean it. So, read on.**

**Disclaimer- Do you really think I'm Rick Riordan? Do you? Because I'm not.**

**OLIVIA POV**

_Emergency! _I folded the paper and passed it to Annabeth, which earned me a death glare. She scribbled furiously on the paper and looked like she was restraining herself from strangling me as she passed it back.

_Olivia! Passing notes? Really?_ I read, and sighed. Couldn't this girl just break the rules for once? I mean, if she thought _this_ was bad, she should have seen some of the other stuff I did.

_Yes. Seriously, 911! _ I wrote back. She opened the note and sighed.

_Fine. Only because I know you aren't going to stop bothering me until I agree to hear you out. What's the problem? _I grinned as I read the note.

_Thanks. I need to come to your house again. Sam ditched me. _I passed the note back. She read it, and frowned. The bell rang and we filed out of language arts.

"Why'd Sam ditch you?" We turned a corner to see Sam and a petite brunette. Kissing. Things had escalated since lunch, apparently. I tried not to tear the girl's eyes out and stomp on them until they turned into jelly.

"_That." _I said gritting my teeth. Annabeth gasped.

"How could he? It's obvious you have a huge- nevermind. Let's get away from this horror scene." She said, pulling me to my locker.

"What were you saying- I mean, earlier?" I said, grabbing my backpack and shutting my locker. She winced. Was my crush really that obvious? Darn my highly revealing - but might I say dazzling - facial expressions. We began the treacherous journey to Annabeth's locker.

"Um, well… would it offend you if I told you that I knew you were completely in love with Sam?" She asked carefully. I sighed as we reached her locker.

"No… You caught me. Now, let's never talk about this around other people again, got it?" I asked hurriedly. She smiled as she looked at her phone.

"Okay, deal. By the way, you can come over." She said. I grinned, all thoughts of Sam temporarily slipping to the back of my mind. Annabeth almost pocketed her phone but it buzzed again. She rolled her eyes and opened the text. I looked over her shoulder.

_If she wanted to, she could sleep over! Gosh, this is so exciting! _I was trying to decide whether this was funny, or just really, really sad as Annabeth rolled her eyes again.

"Yeah, I could do that. I'll text my mom later." I assured her. She laughed.

"Okay, let's get going." She said, just as I saw the little speck that was Percy at the end of the hallway. It was that moment when I got the most brilliant idea. I resisted the urge to laugh maniacally and rub my hands together.

"Wait," I said, putting my arm out in front of her. "If I'm going to go with you, I have one condition. We get a ride from Percy." I said.

"Ugh, why does everything having to do with you have to be so complicated?! And, _no._" She said, frustrated. Muahahaha… my plan was working perfectly.

"If we don't, I'll walk home." I said. All of a sudden, it started pouring outside. Thanks to whoever controls the weather! Annabeth walked towards the doors.

"What? It was only supposed to sprinkle today- nevermind. How far is your house?"

"Three miles." I said smugly. She made a face that made me think my plan was still working, also known as the expression that says, 'argh this girl is so frustrating how will I ever win this?' I get that expression a lot. (by the way, the answer to that question is: you won't)

"But- I can't- Fine." She said, defeated. I smiled my most irritating smile.

"Good. Come on." I grabbed her arm and pulled her towards Percy, who was currently shutting his locker.

"Why does this seem so familiar?" I heard her mutter behind me. I love my fake job.

"Why hello, Percy, will we have the privilege of travelling in your fine carriage on this lovely evening?" I said. Percy looked confused, yet again.

"Um, what?" I rolled my eyes.

"Can we have a ride?" I asked, all of the tone coming out of my voice. He smiled.

"Yeah, sure, where to?"

"My house." Annabeth said from behind me. Wow, speaking normally to someone other than me! I would have to remember to reward her later.

"Alright, come on." We walked outside to his truck and he opened the back door. I grinned and hopped in, slamming the door behind me. Annabeth rolled her eyes and got in the front seat.

* * *

**ANNABETH POV**

I just don't know what Olivia wants. All of her evil plans just seem to center on me being uncomfortable. That's it. Let me tell you, she is a very odd child. The drive to my house only took about two minutes. Two minutes of awkward silence. Well, except for Olivia. 'Sooo...nice car.' 'Are we there yet?' 'Jeez, are you guys _ever_ gonna talk?' Yeah. The list goes on. It's surprising how much one girl can say in under two minutes.

We pulled up beside my house. "Well… Thanks for the ride." I said before hopping out of the truck and running to my house, not waiting to see if Olivia was following. I opened the door and dumped my stuff on the ground, only to hear:

"Who was that? Another friend? Oh my gosh, there are two! Is this one a boy? Have you been keeping this from me? I-"

"MOM!" I cut her off. "I will talk to you later. Olivia and I are just gonna go up to my room, okay?" She sighed.

"Okay…" I grabbed Olivia's hand and dragged her up to my room, for the second time in two days.

* * *

**ANNABETH'S MOM POV**

I tried to restrain myself from looking out the window. I really did. But… Not well enough. I looked out the kitchen window to see if the car turned around or not. It didn't. It did the best thing ever. I pulled into the _neighbors driveway._ I tried not to squeal. I was a grown woman. A mom, even. But my personality was just too overwhelming. I saw the figure get out of the car, but that wasn't enough for me.

_Sorry for this, Annabeth._ I apologized to my daughter in my mind as I picked up binoculars. It _was_ a boy! It was too bad that it was raining, otherwise I would be able to see some features, but all of a sudden I heard a:

"MOM!" From above me. I looked up at the ceiling and winced. I forgot about the grate above the kitchen. Whoops.

* * *

**OLIVIA POV**

Man, I love Annabeth's mom.

* * *

**ANNABETH POV**

I have had it with my mother. We were on the floor in my room, faces pressed to the grate. We saw her pick up the binoculars. _Seriously, Mother?_

"MOM!" I shouted. She looked up at us and winced. She slowly put down the binoculars.

"Heh… sorry?"

"How can you even see anything? It's pouring!" She tapped the tool.

"I can't, really. Just a figure." I shook my head.

"Whatever, Mom. Just- ugh!" I threw a blanket over the grate. I didn't exactly want to see her face right now. She seemed to know that, because I heard her voice from the kitchen.

"I'm going to pick up some things at the store, okay honey? I'll be back in around twenty minutes…" She waited for me to reply, when I didn't, I could basically hear her eye roll as she shut the door behind her. I flopped down on my bed so I could see the glow in the dark stars on the ceiling that I had plastered there on Saturday.

"What is it with my mother and her obsession with my life?!" Olivia laid down beside me.

"Nah, your mom is cool." I rolled my eyes.

"You only say that because you're exactly like her." I could feel her grinning. This was good. I was trying to distract her from the 'Sam problem'.

"Sooo… what do you want to do?" I said sitting up. Only then did I realize my mistake. She must have seen the dread on my face. She smiled sadly.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to do anything right now," She said, her smile fading. "I'm not really in the mood." The expression on my face melted into one of concern. I put my arm around her.

"Are you sure?... There isn't anything you can do to make me feel incredibly uncomfortable, torture me in any way?" She laughed weakly and shook her head.

"How about we watch a movie?" She nodded. We walked downstairs.

"You choose something while I go change, okay?" I said, tossing her the remote. When i came out of the bathroom, I saw my mom come in the door. I moved to help put away her purchases. I saw a carton of chocolate ice cream. I looked at her questionably. My mother rarely bought ice cream.

"You're not the only one I can read, you know. Now leave these to me and go cheer up your friend." She said softly.

"Are you sure, I can-" She cut me off.

"Annabeth. Go." We spent the rest of the night eating ice cream, calling Sam some very mean things, and watching horror movies. Olivia fell asleep happy and content.

**Hope you liked this chapter. Please review favorite, anything to do with that. I'm not very good writing romantic stuff. Sorry. PS I have one of those grate things in my room, except mine goes down to the living room. Let me just say, it's pretty fun tying a string to the computer chair and pulling it out from under my brother.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Helloooooo... again. It's . Great. I can't get a chapter in on time to save my life. Or one that's long. Yeah, I know that western NY isn't really where they live, but oh well. And, hurricane like… things don't really happen there often, but still. Sorry. Thanks for the reviews, guys. Now, read.**

**Disclaimer- Owning PJO? Yeah, I wish.**

**ANNABETH POV**

I woke up to my mom in her work clothes, groaning. I cracked open my eyes.

"What is it?" I asked. She just shook her head and pointed to the TV. I nudged Olivia.

"Hmmm." She complained. I pointed to the screen. I saw a lady outside, hair flying, a quarter of her boots under water.

"Many schools in western New York are canceled, including Goode High, Troy Middle School, Linco-" The woman kept listing schools that were canceled. My mom sighed and sat down in a chair.

"They canceled my work too." She said. I knew that whenever she didn't have work she felt useless.

"And we encourage you to stay inside,-" My mom turned to Olivia.

"Do you want to stay over another night, sweetie?" She asked her, concerned.

"Yeah, just… lemme ask my mom." She said, taking out her phone. My mom stood up and gravitated towards her office.

"Maybe I should…" I jumped in front of her and started pushing her back upstairs.

"No. You are going to go change out of your work clothes and _relax._" I said.

"Relax…" She muttered, walking back up the stairs. I plopped back down on the couch next to Olivia.

"Sorry about that, my mom is a total workaholic." I said.

"No, it's fine. My dad is the same way." She murmured as she typed on her phone. As she did that, my phone buzzed.

_Do you still want to work on the project or… _Percy. I texted him back.

_Yeah sure but we would have to deal with Olivia. _

_I think we can handle it. Come over around noon? _I grinned.

_Okay. _I texted back.

_Great see you then._ I set my phone down. Olivia was now talking on the phone, so I went into the kitchen and took out a bowl. I put a pan on the stove and set the temperature.

"What are we doing?" I heard Olivia's voice behind me. I walked past her.

"We," I said, grabbing flour out of the cupboard, "Are making pancakes. Make yourself useful and start mixing." I said, putting four in the bowl and handing her a whisk. I cracked eggs and watched them blend with the flour.

"What are you so happy about?" Olivia asked me. I hadn't realized I was grinning, but I did my best to stop.

"No reason. By the way, do you mind going over to Percy's for a couple hours?" I asked her. The smile came back.

* * *

**OLIVIA POV**

"No, why?" I asked. So that's why she was smiling. Maybe she didn't know, but I did.

"We're doing an art project together." She said simply, sprinkling water on the pan. It seems that people were doing my job for me. Interesting.

"Hey, can I stop mixing now? My arm feels like they're about to fall off." I said, after what felt like fifty more ingredients. Annabeth laughed.

"Yes. Now move." She said, shoving me out of the way and pouring batter on the pan.

"Sooo… did you get to pick your partners?" I asked her, trying not to say the wrong thing and have her shut down.

"No, our partners were the other person at our table."

"So you sit together?" I said, hoping she couldn't hear the grin in my voice. She rolled her eyes and sat down at the table.

"Yes, gods, Olivia. Why does this matter so much to you?" I grinned again and sat down across from her.

"It just does. So were those seats assigned, or…" She glared at me and went to flip the pancakes.

"Why do you need to know?"

"Please, Annie, just tell me." I pleaded. She came and sat down at the table again.

"I will if you never, ever, _ever_ call me Annie again." She glared. I swear I could see steam coming out of her ears. I guess someone doesn't like the name Annie. I nodded furiously.

"Yes, fine. Just tell me." I said. She looked at me like I had grown a third eye or something. I guess not many people pleaded to know if their friend had assigned seats or not.

"No, they were not, but I'm not completely sure why it's so important." She said slowly. Yes! That means they chose to sit together! Or at least one of them did. But that wasn't the point. Stop trying to ruin my happy moment, brain.

* * *

**ANNABETH POV**

"Don't you own _anything_ but jeans?" Olivia said, her voice muffled. Yes, that's right. Olivia was in my closet. Searching for 'decent' clothes. Like she could talk.

"You don't wear anything other than jeans either!" I called out to her.

"Touche." Came her muffled reply. She eventually came out with one of my many pairs of jeans and a white flowered tank top. Yeah, I don't own many girly things. That shirt was given to me by my mother. I huffed.

"Fine, but I get to choose a decent sweatshirt. Have you forgotten that it's pouring outside?" I said, picking up my gray pull over sweatshirt from a past cross country team. Olivia raised an eyebrow.

"Do you know how long it took to find that shirt?" She asked. I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, but I really don't care." I said, walking into the bathroom to change. I could hear Olivia groaning the whole time. I opened the door to find Olivia sprawled on my bed.

"You take too looong!" She whined.

"I was only in there for one minute!" I said, looking at the clock. That earned me another groan. I rolled my eyes. Over dramatic Olivia. She would be a good actor. I re-braided my hair and slipped on my boots. Olivia sat up on my bed and studied me.

"Maybe it would be better if we…" She stood up and reached for my hair. I backed up.

"No, no no. Not the hair." Olivia rolled her eyes.

"Why not?"

"I hate my hair." She laughed.

"Why?"

"It's annoying." Olivia rolled her eyes again.

"If you say so…" She grabbed my hand. "Come on." She pulled me out of my room. Before we could go down the stairs, I stopped her.

"Hold on. I need to talk to my mom." I pried her fingers off of my arm. "Wait here." I walked down the hallway to my mother's room. I slowly opened the door, trying not to disturb her. And there she was, sitting at her desk, still in her work clothes. I had totally forgotten about the computer in her room.

"Mother!" Her head snapped up. Her eyes were bloodshot.

"Oh! Annabeth! What are you doing in here?" I shook my head.

"Hand it over." I said, holding out my hand. She shut her laptop and slowly handed it to me.

"Thank you." I said, slipping it under my arm. "Hey, um, Mom? I'm gonna be over at Percy's house for a little bit, okay?" She perked up.

"Who's Percy?" Great. I forgot. I hadn't told her about Percy.

"He's our neighbor, Mom. We need to work on a project."

"Really? What does he look like? Do you like him? He was the boy that dropped you off yesterday, right?"

"Mother. Please. Not now. I just need you to _not_ work, okay? Watch a movie or something." I said. It was probably a mistake that I told her about Percy. I suspected that I would have a headache for a couple weeks. She huffed.

"Fine."

"Well… bye." I said. I walked out the door, shutting it behind me. Olivia noticed the computer.

"Ah, forgot about the laptop in the bedroom? I do that sometimes." Wow, I guess her dad _was_ the same.

"Come on. We're leaving now." I said, walking down the stairs. I grabbed the key to my mother's office.

"I'm going to lock this in there." I said to Olivia. I walked into her office and placed the computer on her desk. I shut the door, locking it so she couldn't get in. Olivia tugged on my arm.

"We're gonna be late."

"I know, I know." I said, shaking her off of me. We walked out the door into the rain.

**I hope you liked this chapter guys! I want you to know that I won't be updating for a while because my family will be coming over. Please, please, **_**please**_ **review. Opinions, critiques, suggestions, anything! I will reply. I love hearing what you guys think and I hope to greatly improve my writing. Thank you for reading!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey guys. Been a while, hasn't it? It seems like it's that way **_**every**_ **time I upload. I wonder why? Oh yeah. Because I procrastinate. Horribly. I love to write, so **_**why**_ **do I do it? I don't know. But this time! This time, I have an excuse! My family has been visiting for a while, and I have been busy pushing my cousins off a float in the middle of a lake, therefore, it is reasonable that it has been so long. Thanks for sticking with me, guys! I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

**Disclamer- You think I own **_**what**_**? PJO? Noooo way, buster.**

**PERCY POV**

I heard my mother open the door. I walked down the stairs, but by the time I got down there Annabeth and Olivia were already seated at the table. My mom must have a super power or something. I sat down at the table.

"Um… hi." I said. Olivia was furiously running her fingers through her hair, trying to dry it out.

"Hi." They said simultaneously. My mother came out with bowls of spaghetti with pesto, setting them on the table. I knew how good this was. When she wanted to impress somebody, this is what she used. Annabeth smiled up at her.

"Thank you." My mother was taken aback. None of my friends ever had manners of any kind. I did have friends, just not here. They all seemed to live _anywhere_ but here. It was kind of frustrating, actually.

"You're welcome." She sat down, seeming to get over her shock. Olivia took a bite of the pasta.

"Wow, this is _really_ good, Mrs. Jackson!" My mother smiled.

"Thank you, dear. And, please, call me Sally." Olivia grinned. She hated being formal. Mom turned to me.

"Well, Percy, I think I'm gonna get back to work. I'm almost done!" She stated happily. "Well, with the first draft, that is." I smiled.

"Good for you, Mom." My mother was a writer. A good one, too. She had published two books so far, both of them being a big success. Olivia turned to my mother.

"You're a writer?" My mom smiled and nodded. Olivia smacked her forehead. "Wait, _The Garden _and _Seeker_! By Sally Jackson! **(sorry if those are real books, those were the first words that popped into my head) **I'm so stupid. I loved your books! They were absolutely _amazing_!" My mother grinned.

"Thanks. It's good to hear."

"You know, Olivia is a writer, too." I put in, gesturing with my fork.

"Really? Would you like to see something?" Olivia nodded furiously, smiling. My mother stood up.

"Come on." She said. Olivia stood up. I heard them walk away, talking.

"You know, my inspiration for _The Garden_ was actually…_."_ I heard the door to my mother's office shut. I rolled my eyes, smiling. My mother could get so worked up about writing. And Olivia… well, Olivia can get worked up about anything. I heard Annabeth clear her throat.

"We should probably get to work."

"Uh, okay. How are we gonna do this?" I asked as I put the dishes in the sink. I sat back down.

"We should probably just write down some ideas first." I nodded as she pulled out her sketchbook.

"Okay."

"Why don't you come over here, so we can both see?" She said, patting the chair where Olivia had been sitting. I nodded and stood up, sitting in the chair next to her.

"Okay, so, I already have some ideas, but we can think of more. Like, we could do a painting, but what what would it be of? That's what we're trying to figure out. So..." I started to zone out, which is what I tended to do when I was listening to something boring. (sorry, Annabeth!) I watched Annabeth's hand as it moved across the page, trailing green ink. She brushed a stray curl behind her ear, which bore a silver owl stud. Her hair smelled faintly of lemons.

"Hello? Percy!" Annabeth waved her hand in front of my face. I blinked.

"Sorry, what?" She rolled her eyes.

"I was _asking_ if you had any ideas!"

"Um… no…" She rolled her eyes again. I heard a door open to my left. I saw Olivia and my mother come out of her office. Olivia was grinning and her sleeves were pushed up, black ink all over her forearms. Notes, I presume. My mother saw the annoyed look on Annabeth's face.

"Did this one zone out again?"

* * *

**ANNABETH POV**

I smirked. I sensed a lot of making fun of Percy with his mother in the future.

"Yeah." Sally rolled her eyes.

"Again? Well, nevermind that now. Percy, I made cookies." She said, winking at me. I didn't know why until I heard Percy.

"Cookies!" He squealed. I couldn't help it. I burst out laughing, soon to be joined by Olivia.

"What, I can't like cookies?" He protested. I couldn't stop laughing until Sally put a tray of blue chocolate chip cookies on the table. I picked one up and tentatively put it in my mouth. They were _amazing_!

"These are really good, Mrs.- I mean, Sally." I told her. She smiled down at me.

"Thank you. Percy loves them, obviously." I laughed and nodded. I looked over to Percy who was stuffing his third cookie into his mouth.

"Wha?" He asked, mouth full. I rolled my eyes and finished mine.

"Well we should probably get going." I said, standing up. "Thanks for the meal, Sally." Sally smiled.

"You're welcome. And you two come over here any time you want, got that?" I smiled.

"I'll remember." Olivia and I walked out the door.

"And, Percy?" I called. He looked over. "If you _do_ get any ideas, call me, okay?" He smiled and nodded.

"Bye!" Olivia called. I shut the door. We walked out into the pouring rain.

* * *

**OLIVIA POV**

I can't believe I just met _Sally Jackson_! This is the best day ever! But now it seems kind of weird. It's like, when she was just an author to me, she didn't seem like a real person. But now she does. She's Percy's _mom_, for goodness sakes! Two worlds collide. BOOM! If you could see inside my brain, that would have made a lot more sense.

Annabeth opened the door and set her sketchbook down on the kitchen table.

"Sooo… what do you wanna do?" I shrugged. All of a sudden, it felt like I was having a heart attack. Oh, right, I had put my phone in my shirt pocket. I reached inside my coat. Mom.

_Change of plans. You need to come home, Dad's freak working again. Sent Sam to pick you up. He will be there in an hour._ I groaned. Every once in a while, my dad would start working. Sort of like what Annabeth's mom did. Except worse. Way worse. He wouldn't eat, wouldn't sleep, and he wouldn't let go of the laptop.

"What is it?" Annabeth asked, confused. I handed her my phone. Her eyes widened.

"Uh oh. Sam's picking you up!" That's right! I had completely forgotten about… the incident. This was bad. Really, really, bad. I groaned again and sat down.

"What am I gonna do?" Annabeth smiled evilly.

"We," She said, tugging on my arm, "Are going to make you _irresistible_. Come on." She pulled me up the stairs. I smiled. Who knew that shy little Annabeth had evil plans of her own! We entered her room and sat down on her bed. I rolled my eyes.

"This is so cliche."

"Yes, but it works. You gotta admit." I shrugged. "Okay, so, _I _don't have any makeup, but my mom just bought a bunch and she hasn't used it. Hold on, let me go get some." She said, walking out of the room. This was gonna be weird. I mean, Emily gave me makeovers all the time, but I usually ended up looking like a clown. Annabeth came back, holding a few things in her hand.

"I don't really know much about makeup but my mom blabs on about it sometimes. What I _do _know is that we aren't going to make it really obvious." I nodded. "So…" She said, searching through the pile. "I guess we'll put on _slightly_ tinted lip gloss? I'm sorry, I really don't know how to do this." She said, flustered. I laughed and took the lip gloss from her.

"Here." I said, applying it on her lips. "You see how I'm doing it?" I asked her, moving in front of the mirror. She nodded and laughed.

"Now you do it to me." I handed it to her. Within a few minutes, our faces were transformed. You know, a little bit. Annabeth looked in the mirror and wrinkled her nose.

"I look _weird._" I rolled my eyes.

"You look fine, Annie." I said, just to irk her. She glared at me. I like irking people. Plus it's a fun word. Irkity irk irk. Sorry. Getting off track here.

"Right, sorry. _Annabeth._" She smiled.

"Good girl. Don't forget the rule again, or I'll have to kill you."

"_That_ doesn't sound too good."

"You're right, it's not." My phone buzzed. It was Sam.

_Um, I don't actually know how to get to Annabeth's house. _I rolled my eyes.

_Next to Percy's house._

_And where is that? _I grinned. Wait, I was supposed to be mad at him. Ugh. Nevermind. I gave him the directions to Annabeth's house. About two minutes later, I got a text telling me that he was in the driveway.

"Well, time to see if the plan works." I said to Annabeth. She grinned.

"I'll walk you to the door." She said, and proceeded to do so. I walked out the door.

"See ya later, Annabeth!"

* * *

**SAM POV**

I sat in my truck watching Olivia come towards me, her hair becoming soaked.

"So, Annabeth and Percy are- what happened to your face?" I said as she opened the door. I mentally slapped myself. That was rude. But Olivia looked different. I mean, in a good way. I had never seen her with makeup on.

"It's makeup, silly!" She paused and frowned. "Why, does it look bad?"

"No! I like it. It's just… surprising. You never wear makeup." I started the car and we started driving.

"So, what were you saying? About Percy and Annabeth?" I glanced at her.

"Um, they're neighbors?"

"I know! They didn't tell me either! By the way, how was your date?" She asked me. Date? What date? Oh, right, that date. The one with my super amazing girlfriend. It sounded good just to think it. I had a girlfriend!

"Oh. It was great." We pulled into Olivia's driveway. Wow, this town was small. She opened her door.

"Well, bye." She hopped out and closed the door.

"Bye." I said as she ran down the driveway.

* * *

**ANNABETH POV**

I walked into the kitchen to see my mom washing dishes. Good. She was back to normal.

"You know, that old shed really does need to be painted." She said without looking at me. All of a sudden my brain exploded. I ran up to my room.

* * *

**PERCY POV**

I was sitting on my bed, my phone sitting in front of me, trying and trying to think of an idea. For some reason. I don't know. I guess just as an excuse to call Annabeth. Not because I liked her! I just really, really, wanted to talk to her. While I was thinking, my phone rang. I picked it up, to hear Annabeth's voice.

"Percy! I just had the greatest idea!"

**So, I hoped you liked this chapter. I have many plans for this story, I just don't have any idea how I'm going to put them in! Grrrrr… so frustrating. Sorry about that one scene, I don't really know anything about makeup. I'm the type of girl that is about 0.5% girly. But anyways, please review, favorite, all of that stuff. Thanks for reading!**

**P.S. Hello. As I was finishing this chapter, my internet went out. (I'm at a relative's house right now) Ahhh! Keep your fingers crossed for me!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Helllloooo. Whooo! Chapter ten! Awesome! Thanks to everyone that has supported me, all of the people that have reviewed, favorited, etc.. I had a bit of writer's block writing this, sooo… sorry about the, ah, shortness. (Great, and on chapter 10!) I will have at least 3,000 words next time, I promise. Internet still not fixed! Argh! So… enjoy!**

**Disclaimer- I do not own anything. Seriously! I'm going into eighth grade this year! Do you expect me to own PJO by now? Jeez.**

**ANNABETH POV**

I stretched as I stood outside in my painting clothes, soaking up the long awaited sunlight. It was the Saturday after the storm, and the only clouds in the sky were wispy and white. I could hear the birds singing, everything was just _fresh_.

"And _when_ did you say the dork was getting here?" Leave it to Olivia to ruin the moment.

"Since when was Percy a dork?" I asked, disappearing into the shed to get more paint.

"Uh, since _always_! And you still didn't answer my question!" She called from the back porch. Olivia had been staying here since her dad had had his 'incident'. I set the cans down and stood back against the fence. What other colors would we need? I mean, we were only picking out colors, not using them.

"Maybe some more yellow?" I muttered.

"Annabeth! Question!"

"Shut up Olivia, I'm concentrating."

"What question?" I heard from behind me. I jumped and turned around.

"Oh, um-"

"I _asked _her when the dork was getting here! Jeez people!"

"Well Olivia," Percy said, hopping over the fence, "I _think_ she's already here." Olivia rolled her eyes and went back to reading her book.

"Sooo… how are we gonna do this?" Percy asked after coming to stand beside me. I stood back and shaded the sun out of my eyes with my hand.

"Depends. Do you want to do abstract or realistic? Wait, hold that thought. I think we're just going to work on the background for now."

"Fine with me."

"Okay then, go pick one."

"Of what?"

"Of all of the paint buckets sitting on the ground, silly!"

"Ah." Percy walked over to my collection of paint. I really did have a lot. It was, mind you, very inconvenient for my mother, but she let me keep them anyways.

"Told you he was a dork." Olivia said, turning the page of her book and not looking up. I rolled my eyes. "By the way, has your mom met Percy? I'm sure she'd be thrilled to."

"Got that right." I muttered under my breath. My mom had been asking us questions about Percy, day and night. Talk about _headache_.

"Yeah, I'd love to meet your mom." I groaned.

"No, you wouldn't." He turned to me.

"Why not?"

"She'd freak out."

"So?"

"So that's annoying."

"I don't care! I still want to meet her. Please?" He pouted. I rolled my eyes.

"Fine." I huffed. "But I'm blaming you for my future headache." Olivia grinned and stood up, brushing off her pants.

"I wanna see this." I sighed and walked around the house to the front porch, hearing my friends' footsteps behind me. I opened the door, but not after telling Percy to stay outside until further notification.

"Mom?" I called into the house. My mother came out of the kitchen, drying her hands on a dishtowel.

"Hi sweetie."

"Mom, do you promise to be good?" She set the dishtowel down.

"What? Why?"

"Just promise, okay?" She frowned.

"Okaaay… I promise to behave myself. Now what?" She asked, confused.

"I'd like you to meet someone. Percy, come on in." I sighed. Wait for it… My mother squealed. There goes one eardrum.

"Is this the boy? Is-"

"Mom! You promised to be good!" She sulked.

"Fine…" She said as Percy came in the door.

"Percy, Mom, Mom, Percy. Okay, I think we're done here, goodbye!" I said, pushing Percy towards the door.

"Hold on, Annabeth, jeez!" Percy walked back towards my mom and held out his hand, which she immediately took.

"Nice to meet you, Miss Chase." He said. My mom grinned.

"The pleasure is all mine." Trust me, it is. "You can call me Athena." He smiled.

"Sure." My mom looked back and forth from me to Percy.

"Annabeth hasn't had a friend that's a boy -or any friend, that I know of- since- well, since middle school!" My mom grinned slyly. "And, Annabeth, now that you're old enough to be attracted to people…"

"_Mother_! He's just a friend!" I shrieked. I was beet red, as well as Percy. Meanwhile, beside the couch, Olivia was cracking up. Well, I now know that my own mother's promises mean nothing.

"Um, let's go, guys." I said, walking out the door, avoiding any physical contact with Percy this time.

* * *

**OLIVIA POV**

Man, that must have been embarrassing. And, what's even funnier: They didn't see me take a picture of their faces! Ha! Okay, from now on, I am officially the professional Annabeth and Percy photographer.

On my way out the door, I whispered to Annabeth's mom.

"Don't worry, it's only a matter of time..." She shook her head, smiling, and went back to what I assume was washing the dishes. I followed Annabeth and Percy around the house. I sat down and resumed reading my book.

* * *

**PERCY POV**

I like Annabeth's mom and all, but that… that was just embarrassing. Even more so, the fact that I kind of liked that idea! What is wrong with me?! I walked over to one of the paint buckets. A nice light blue, like the sky. I didn't choose my favorite color, but still. I wasn't feeling like darker colors right now.

"...I like this one." Annabeth looked at the ground.

"Um… okay. You can come back tomorrow, then." What? Was this just because of what her mom said or something?

"What? Why?" I asked, confused." She looked up and laughed softly.

"Don't worry, it wasn't because of… that." Her cheeks reddened again. "You can stay, but only if you want to see me put boring old white primer on."

"Can I help?" I asked. She smiled.

"If you _want_ to, I guess. Here." She said, handing me a roller and pouring primer into the tray. She picked one up and dipped it in.

"We're going to need to put on a few coats of this." She began applying it on the building, so I followed her lead. It didn't take as long as I suspected, only about half an hour. Annabeth turned on the hose and rinsed her roller off.

"Now give me yours." She said, holding out her hand. Our hands touched when I gave it to her, sending little sparks of electricity all through my arm. It was kind of… nice. Did she feel it too? Apparently not, because she just turned around and started washing the paint off. I sat down next to Olivia on the porch.

"So, I was wondering… do you guys want to come to my swim meet next week?" I asked. Just because there was a storm didn't mean tryouts were canceled! I got in! Annabeth stood up and smiled.

"Sure." She set the rollers down. Olivia still hadn't replied. "Olivia… Hello?" She spoke into her ear. I nudged her shoulder.

"Liv!" She looked up, obviously not having any idea about what was going on.

"What?..." Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"I'll ask her later. Bye, Percy." She said. I smiled.

"Bye." I walked over and hopped the fence. Time for a swim.

**I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Remember, the next chapter will be at least 3,000! Thanks for reading and see ya later!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Okay, time to begin with the traditional apology. I usually start my chapters like this, right? I am so so so so so so so so so so so so so so **_**so**_ **sorry. I'm late. Like, way late. Remember that internet problem? Yeah, it just got fixed. Sorry. So, If you're even reading this, I know what you're thinking. I'm going to stop blabbering now and get to the story. (By the way, 3,000 words as promised!)**

**Disclaimer- As long as it's been, I still don't own anything.**

**ANNABETH POV-**

I stood waiting at Olivia's locker. I still needed to ask her about Percy's swim meet. I had completely forgotten about it over the weekend. Olivia stalked over, obviously diverting her eyes from the makeout scene across the hall.

"Seriously, what kind of a name is Caramel?" She grumbled. I frowned, confused.

"Caramel?" I frowned, confused.

"That's the name of Sam's _friend_."

"Ah." Olivia grabbed her lunch box just as a familiar face peered over her shoulder.

"Hey, Liv!" Olivia slammed her locker and turned around, glaring.

"What do _you_ want?" Sam grinned.

"What put you in such a bad mood? Had to move back into your own house?" Olivia glared.

"Trust me, you wouldn't want to know." She said. I saw her involuntarily glance over at Caramel. As did Sam.

"Oh, you're mad at me because I haven't introduced you to my girlfriend! Of course!" Olivia winced at the g-word, but then attempted to hide it behind a fake smile. Ugh. boys are so oblivious.

"Heh heh. . . yup. You guessed right." Sam grinned again and called over to Caramel.

"Babe!" The girl turned, shut her locker, and began walking across the hall. "Guys, this is Caramel. Caramel, this is Annabeth, and my all time best friend Olivia." Olivia smiled at that. We heard a loud cough from behind me. Sam glanced at him.

"Oh, and Percy." I moved out of the way so he could get to his locker. Caramel smiled, the kind of smile that you only saw in toothpaste commercials.

"Hello, Annabeth, Olivia, Percy. I am pleased to meet you." She talked with a slight british accent. I smiled slightly. I opened my mouth but sound wouldn't come out. Stupid shyness. Percy saved me by holding out his hand.

"Nice to meet you." He said, flashing her a smile. Jeez, Percy. Don't do that too many times or she might leave Sam for you. Um, wait. . . um, just forget that. I smiled gratefully at him and took that moment to quickly turn around and open my locker. I zoned out of the conversation while I searched for my lunch. And my Social Studies textbook. And my Latin textbook. By the time I turned around, the couple was walking down the hallway, the boy's arm around the girl's shoulders.

"Polite! Why does she have to be so polite!" Olivia grumbled under her breath. We started down the hall. Percy laughed.

"What's your beef with her? Wait, wait, don't tell me, you're jealous!" Olivia's eyes widened.

"What? No. . . not in a million years."

"Yeah, you're not going to be able to hide it from me. If you don't tell me the truth, I'll tell him you like him, true or not." Olivia's eyes widened even more, but then she sighed defeated.

"Okay, I like him. But you better not tell _him_ that." Olivia said. Percy smiled.

"I knew it." He said. I bumped Olivia's shoulder.

"Man, are you in trouble. If _Percy _can see it, then you must really not be hiding your feelings well."

"Hey!" Percy exclaimed. I smiled in apology.

"Sorry, but even in just a few weeks of knowing you, it's obvious that you're pretty dense in these kind of things."

"I am not!"

"Yes you are." Olivia and I said together. After a few seconds, Percy came to a shocking realization.

"You told Annabeth and not me?" We sat down at one of the many flimsy circular tables that populated the cafeteria. Olivia rolled her eyes.

"No offense, idiot, but you don't just tell guys this kind of stuff! _Especially_ guys that hang out with the person in question."

"Olivia, seriously. You don't just say 'no offense' and then call them an idiot." I said, laughing. Percy raised his hands in exasperation.

"Thank you!" I opened up one of my textbooks and began my Social Studies homework. Percy noticed and shut it.

"That stuff's not due until _next week_. Seriously, Annabeth."

"And, it's lunch." Olivia helpfully put in.

"I like to be ahead." I said, raising my eyebrows.

"Obviously!" Percy and Olivia exclaimed together, then glared at each other.

"Oh!" I half shouted, remembering the you know what.

"What?" Olivia half shouted back. Olivia quite enjoyed shouting, half or otherwise.

"Did you want to go to Percy's swim meet on Saturday? Percy asked last week but I kept forgetting."

"You still haven't asked her?" Percy asked.

"No, she hasn't, but that's not gonna stop me from going!" Olivia exclaimed.

"Great!" Percy grinned.

"So, while you have your books open, what did you get for number seven in-" Olivia started, but I cut her off by drawing in a sharp breath.

"What?" My friends - friends! As in, plural! It still felt great just to think it. - asked me, but my gaze couldn't- wouldn't be moved from a certain spot in the corner of the cafeteria. You know how I said that in my last school I had a friend? And my mom didn't know about anything of the sort? Well, let me tell you the reasons. Well, for one, my mom was, well, my mom, and, two, this friend was a boy. A really good looking, honest to goodness, _boy_. I thought I would never see him again, but here we were.

And there _he_ was, waiting in the lunch line. I saw his shiny light brown hair, perfectly gelled up in the front like always.

"Oh. My. Gosh." I whispered.

"_What?" _Asked both my friends. I still didn't reply. I didn't hear them, didn't _want_ to hear them as I scooted my chair out and started walking over to the lunch line. The only noise I heard was the beating of my heart. I could feel it in every part of my body. My chest, my stomach, the tips of my fingers. Everything, it seemed, would be in slow motion until I was reunited with my goofball friend.

I snuck up behind his tall frame. You couldn't quite call him lanky, he had a fair amount of muscle. Wait for it. . . I tackled him from behind.

"What the- what do you think you're-" He turned around, shaking me off his back. I know. The last thing you would expect coming to a new school with new kinds that you couldn't possibly know was someone leaping on you from behind. Trust me, I know. He saw me and set his tray down, enveloping me in a hug.

"Annabeth!" He whispered into my hair. I grinned into his shoulder.

"I'm up to your shoulders now." I said. I felt him smile.

"I noticed."

* * *

**PERCY POV**

What. _What_. Just a second ago I had to save Annabeth from speaking. Now she was just hugging some random guy? That couldn't be her. . . boyfriend, could it? The idea bothered me for some reason. Maybe- you know what, I don't even know anymore.

"_Not _a boyfriend, in case you're wondering. As attractive as he is." Olivia said, sipping the last of her orange juice through a straw.

"What? Why would I be wondering that?" Why was she telling me this?

"Okay, fine, whatever. just make my job even harder, why don't you." She muttered. "See, the chemistry between them isn't like that. You can see only friendly gestures, obvious or otherwise."

"Otherwise meaning. . ."

"Like, looking at the other in a certain way when the other person isn't looking, - even if they don't realize it themselves - things like that. . . actually, for the guy, I don't know. . ." Her eyebrows scrunched together, and you could almost see the gears turning behind her brown eyes.

"Okay, why are you telling me this?"

"Oh, you know, just saving your helpless little brain from thoughts it might have wanted to think later. . ."

"Right."

"Hey, do you think Annabeth's going to eat the rest of that pizza? Man, her mom makes _really_ good pizza." Olivia asked, eyeing the pizza. I slid Annabeth's lunch to the other side of the table.

"Yes, I do."

* * *

**OLIVIA POV**

Man, Annabeth just has the luck of becoming friends with the most good looking people. Percy, kind of Sam, don't forget me, of course, and the newcomer. And he was _really_ cute. Like, I was almost blinded. - blinded by cute? Is that a thing? - Ah, here they come. Time to see if Cute Guy is a total IdiotButtJerkface or not. That's one of the words Annabeth and I made up for Sam. I know, we're geniuses.

When Annabeth came over, happiness was radiating off of her in every single possible way. It was coating her all over and dripping from her ears and out of her nose. The girl was a happiness blob.

"Guys, this is Aiden." - hm, Aiden, cute name. But it sounds. . . shorter, somehow. I think I'm going to stick with Cute Guy. - Percy frowned.

"But I thought your mom said-"

"Annabeth's mom? A myth for all I know. Never met her." Cute Guy cut in. "So are we going to sit now? Or am I just going to stand here with my tray for eternity?" Annabeth grinned and sat down next to Percy. I moved my stuff to the other side of him so they could sit together. This was the Four Table. Everyone called it that. Only four seats here. It's been like that for years. We sat here because there were only three people in our group. Me, Annabeth, Percy, obviously. Now, hopefully, Cute Guy/Aiden would be filling the empty chair. Coincidentally, that chair was also broken. Oh well, not my problem.

Annabeth just sat there grinning at Aiden. He cleared his throat.

"So who exactly _are _your friends?"

"Oh! Um, this is Percy and Olivia."

"Hello, Percy and Olivia. If my powerful methods of deduction are correct, the girl is Olivia and the boy is Percy?" Annabeth laughed.

"Obviously." Cute Guy looked down at the distasteful blob of brown mush and then to Annabeth's pizza.

"I may never have met Annabeth's mom, but, however, I _have _met her pizza. Gimmie that!" He snatched her pizza off of the tinfoil on which it lay. I elbowed Percy.

"I told you she wasn't going to eat that! I'm psychic, Percy, psychic."

"Ah, so she talks!" Cute Guy exclaimed. I raised my eyebrows.

"I believe you will find that I talk much more than needed."

"Oh really?"

"Really."

"Are you a writer? You look like a writer. You have any more, Annabeth? I'm gonna need more than this if I'm gonna try out for the basketball team later." Annabeth pushed the tinfoil over to him, exposing the second piece of pizza. How did he know I was a writer? What the heck?

"Help yourself. I'm not hungry. So, Aiden: basketball star, once again. You have a chance to reinvent yourself, you know. You could be Aiden: the nerd, or Aiden: the jock."

"Nah, basketball star's good enough for me." Basketball star, eh? My dad was a big fan of basketball, but I really couldn't care less about sports. Annabeth finally removed her gaze from the 'basketball star'.

"So, Olivia, are you coming over tonight?" I grinned.

"You got it."

"What about me?" Percy jokingly asked. Annabeth rolled her eyes, smiling slightly.

"You're my neighbor, stupid. All you have to do is walk through the gate."

"No, he has to jump over the fence. It makes him look cool." I corrected her.

"Hey!" Percy exclaimed. We laughed.

"So Annabeth, school's even been open for a couple of weeks and you already have two friends. How did that happen?"

"Um, best friends. And believe me, it was _hard _to get her to talk. I kept pestering and pestering until she talked. That was in math." I explained. Cute Guy raised his eyebrows, impressed.

"Really? It took me like half a year to get her to talk to me. I tried to talk to her - well, _at_ her, maybe - every day, I sat with her at lunch. Every day. _Eventually _she started talking back. But in _one_ math class? I have to say, I'm impressed." He held his hand out for me to shake. I obliged.

"Well, I guess it was just my amazing personality. It always is."

"If by personality you mean incredibly annoying, then yes." Annabeth put in. I rolled my eyes.

"You think of it that way, I think of it as incredibly resourceful." It was Annabeth's turn to roll her eyes.

LANGUAGE ARTS

I sat down in my seat across from Annabeth. Well, maybe it was my new, self proclaimed, seat across from Annabeth. Oh well. I wanted her and Percy to sit together. And I kind of wanted to sit next to Sam, even though he _was_ a total IdiotButtJerkface sometimes. You know what? Motives don't matter.

Annabeth slid into her seat across from me. She raised her eyebrows. You know, when she did that, her eyebrows almost disappeared. They were so. . . _blond_.

"Why are you sitting over there?" I straightened in my seat.

"Motives aren't important." I said. Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"Sure." Percy walked in. He frowned in confusion.

"Sooo. . . am I sitting here now?" He said, gesturing to the seat next to me. I frowned.

"No. You sit over there." I said as I pointed to the seat next to Annabeth. Jeez, boys are dull. He shrugged and sat down.

"Fine by me." It _better_ be fine by you, buster. _Finally_, Sam came in. He was probably lollygagging in the hallway with Caramel. Ugh, Caramel. He slid into his seat next to me, but immediately turned to talk to Caramel, who was at the table next to us. I rolled my eyes and turned back to Annabeth, only to see she had a little happiness leaking out of her ear again. Cute Guy/Aiden must be here. Sure enough, when I looked up her was standing next to our table.

"Do I have to sit somewhere else? Do we have assigned seats or something?" I shook my head.

"No, you can pull up a chair." I assured him. Sam looked over quickly.

"Wait, here, you can take my seat." He grabbed his stuff and, without a backwards glance, moved to the table next to us. I guess he finally found his excuse to break all ties with me and go live in Caramel world. Aiden sat down next to me and soon we were opening our books for twenty minutes of reading.

That didn't last for long, apparently, because soon I felt something nudge my leg. I looked at the table to see Aiden's hand, holding out a folded piece of paper. I took and unfolded it.

_Let's just keep passing this and watch Annabeth's face._ I looked up at him. He was grinning. I grinned back and scribbled back a message.

_Trust me, I've seen it before._

_You have? When?_

_We passed notes one time, but she only gave in because it was for a very grave reason._

_Really? What was it?_

_You wouldn't want to know. Girl talk. _He nudged my knee again. I looked up to see Annabeth's face, glaring at us. She tore a scrap of paper out of her notebook and ferociously scribbled a message on it. She threw it over at us. We opened it.

_Guys, you shouldn't be doing this. It's class time. _I stuck my tongue out at her and passed the paper to Aiden. She rolled her eyes and went back to reading.

_Who cares if it's girl talk? I want to know._

"Okay, class. Time to put away your books. You can work on your essays now. And," She looked down at her attendance list. "Aiden, since you haven't received your laptop yet, you'll have to work on paper for the time being. You can get the rest of the information from your fellow classmates." He grinned and turned to us.

"So, what's this essay about?"

"It's a reflection on this book." Annabeth held up her copy. _Seeker_ by Sally Jackson. Did I mention that this was one of my favorite essays to write ever?

"Awesome! That's my favorite author! Meaning I re read that book last week! This should be easy." He said. I smiled.

"Yeah, mine too. Sally Jackson. That's Percy's mom." His eyes widened.

"Sally Jackson is your _mom_? Why didn't you tell me?" Percy raised his hand up in greeting.

"Hello, I'm Percy Jackson. As in Sally Jackson, the famous author." He said. Aiden nodded.

"Yeah, that would be a bit weird." He turned to Annabeth. "So. . . that means you live next to Sally Jackson." Annabeth nodded.

"And me! Don't forget her awesome son!" Percy exclaimed. Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, Sally, and you." After forty minutes of perfecting my already perfect essay, the bell rang. It was the end of the day. Finally. Everyone rushed out of class.

"So, where's your locker? Mine's 269." Cute Guy asked me. I smiled.

"Well, that means you're officially part of our group. Our lockers are all in a row. You're on the end. Right. . ." I walked up to my locker and put in the combination. I opened it and tapped the locker next to me. "next to me." He grinned. You know, he had really sharp canines.

"Great." I grabbed my stuff and shut my locker, waiting for Percy and Annabeth.

**I hope you liked this chapter, guys. 3,000 words as promised! Yay! Did you guys get the Blood of Olympus yet? I **_**just**_ **got it on Saturday, because when I went to my all time favorite bookstore on the 7th, they were all. OUT. They said it sold out in two hours. The next truck was going to come on Saturday. Ahhhhh! But the good news is I'm done now, and I will not be talking about it for a period of one month, for those of you guys that haven't gotten it yet. But anyways, please review, favorite, all of that stuff. You know I love hearing from you guys.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hi guys! It feels good to be back! And typing on my computer again! It's FINALLY fixed. THANK YOU to all who are still reading this story after my long absence, and to all that reviewed, favorited, followed, even read this. It means so much to me! *gives you all a hug* Anyways, I'll get to the story now (I don't think the majority of you will even read this so)**

* * *

**ANNABETH POV**

"So who's this C- um, Aiden?" Olivia asked. We were laying on my bed, cutting up magazines for Olivia's art project.

"What?" I asked. Did she forget his name or something?

"Aiden. What's the story?"

"I know, but- nevermind. What about him? He basically told you the whole story anyways." I said.

"Yeah, he told _his_ point of view. I want to know _yours_." she insisted in an incredibly _Olivia_ like way. I sighed and rolled my eyes.

"Like he said: He kept trying to talk to me and it was _really _annoying, and- actually, it was pretty much like your situation except in slow mo." I said. She nudged my shoulder.

"Do you liiiiiike him?" she half said, half sang. I rolled my eyes.

"No. Aiden's like a little brother. A really annoying, immature, little brother. You'll see. Why? Do _you_ liiiiiiiike him?" I asked.

"Nope." she said, but she responded too quickly. She sounded too sure of herself. Suspicious.

"Okay, sure." I said.

"I don't!" she protested.

"Uh huh." I said, carefully cutting out a really nice blue. "I might not be as good at reading people as you, but I'm still pretty good." I said. She rolled her eyes.

"I should just never hide stuff like that from you."

"No." I replied. We cut up magazines for a little while longer.

"Hey. . . how did he know I was a writer?" she asked. To that I shrugged.

"I never did figure that out. He's just good at guessing things, I guess."

"Weird."

"Yeah. I know. Speaking of writing, I was reading the school paper- don't look at me like that. Some people read the school paper. Anyways, there's a contest for a 1,000 word minimum short story. You should enter." Olivia had shown me one of her stories. Short story short, it was _amazing_.

"What's the point? I would just lose anyways." she said, glumly cutting up the face of a man who had perfectly aligned, perfectly white, teeth. Because of his toothpaste, obviously.

"Um, excuse me, did I just hear those words come out of Olivia's mouth?" I rolled over to face her. "Okay, first of all, you can't just not do stuff because you think you're going to _lose_! Second, you are _not _going to lose. This is _Olivia Sharpe_ we're talking about here! I've only read one of your stories, and I already think you're crazy good."

"Not that good." she said, but I could see a hint of a smile on her face.

"I'm not going to flatter you anymore. You do _not _need that kind of ego boost." I said, smiling. She laughed and grabbed my phone.

"What are you doing?" I shrieked. Knowing Olivia, it was probably something bad. I grabbed for it, but she pulled away, laughing.

"Fine, you wanna play that game? Okay." I said and grabbed Olivia's phone and entered Aiden's number. She didn't even notice.

_I hid the body. _I typed in and hit send, trying not to crack up.

_Who is this? _Came the confused reply. I could totally picture his face right then. But, instead of replying, I just tossed the phone next to Olivia on the bed. Let them figure it out.

"What are you doing?" I asked Olivia, trying to read over her shoulder. She rolled her eyes and handed the phone back, walking to the window. I didn't even look at the messages, not wanting to be embarrassed by something I didn't do.

* * *

**PERCY POV**

I read the screen of my buzzing phone and sighed. I'd better get up there. I really would not look forward to the specifications of Olivia's texts. I got up from the kitchen table and made my way upstairs and into my room. I tossed my phone on my bed and opened my curtains.

"What do you want, Liv?" I asked. "I was actually doing homework for once." I said. Olivia grinned.

"Well I'm oh so very utterly sorry for keeping you from that tremendously important homework, but I have called you here for a very important reason." she said. I raised an eyebrow.

"And this super important reason is?" I asked. Her eyes brightened as if this was actually going to be important news.

"I have decided to grace you with my presence at your swim meet!" she exclaimed.

"That's great! But you already told me that so…" See? I told you this wasn't going to be important. Like, at all. Olivia frowned.

"Oh, right."

* * *

**ANNABETH POV**

I got out my history textbook and my laptop. I turned to page 397 and opened a document on the computer. I knew this wasn't _technically _assigned yet, but I got Mr. Small to give me some assignments that we would be doing in the future_. _What? I had finished all of my other homework, and it's not like I had anything else to do, with Olivia… watching birds or whatever she was doing. What _was_ she doing?

I got up and tapped Olivia on the shoulder.

"Liv?"

"Oh, here she is!" Olivia exclaimed as she pulled me under the curtains. And there was Percy, rolling his eyes.

"So what exactly are we here for?" I asked. Percy shrugged.

"All I know is Liv threatened to shove glitter in my locker if I didn't come out here."

"Which we all know she would do."

"Right." he said. We stood there in silence, not knowing what to say. Meanwhile, there was Olivia, looking like an expectant puppy or something.

"Well, I have some homework I have to do, so…" my sentence trailed off and I slowly faded back through my curtains. I sat on my clipping covered bed and continued with my assignment. Olivia sat down next to me, groaning.

"What?" I asked, annoyed. She just shook her head and continued mutilating the perfect toothed man.

"Olivia, I'm not a character in your stories. I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing!"

"You're supposed to _talk _to him!" she replied, exasperated.

"I _do_ talk to him." I said.

"Yeah, about dumb stuff."

"Did you just call my art project dumb?" I asked, confused and a bit offended. Olivia stood up, groaned, and flopped dramatically back onto my bed.

"You know what I mean," she said into my sheets so I could barely hear her. I sat down next to her.

"No, I actually don't," I said. Olivia mumbled something into my bed again. I rolled my eyes and started picking up the magazine clippings off my bed and put them in a bag. You know, the ones that Olivia hadn't crushed.

All of a sudden I heard a muffled buzzing sound. I followed it all the way to under my dresser. Of course. Olivia's phone. My mental self rolled its eyes at the fact that I was not at all surprised. I had just had that thing. How does she do it? It buzzed again, causing the screen to light up. There were about twenty texts, all from Sam. Apparently he'd been outside for about fifteen minutes. Oh, so sad. I tried not to laugh for Olivia's sake. I really didn't understand why she liked him. Since I moved here, all he'd been was mean to her.

"Liv." I said to the lump on my bed, which earned me a groan.

"Sam's outside." I said and dropped her phone on her back. She groaned again and slid off the bed, her red hair strewn with magazine bits. She crawled slowly out the door and into the hallway. I bet she would've done that all the way home if Sam hadn't been there to pick her up.

* * *

**Sorry that this chapter had absolutely no plot, or, well, anything useful at all. And that it was so very short. I've got to get used to writing these characters again! Thanks again for reading, reviews are most definitely appreciated! (oh, whoever told me that it was hard to tell who was talking, I re read it and I totally see what you mean. I tried to fix it this time. Thanks!) : : : : ) ...just kidding, I'm not Vriska. **


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